Chapter 5 — Justice Delayed

But I would never hear that again. On the day Wan Tang was discharged from the hospital, she was still wearing a white dress. A small piece of gauze was taped to the back of her hand. Mother Bui had come in person to pick her up. Father Bui had grumbled that the house was filled with bad luck and instructed the maid to lock the ancestral shrine. As Wan Tang stepped through the doorway, her eyes were rimmed with red. The moment she caught sight of Tuyen, she hurried toward him.

Brother. I am truly heartbroken about what happened to Xing Dao. If I had known it would come to this, I would rather have been the one injured that day.

In the past, whenever she spoke like that, Tuyen would undoubtedly have softened. But this time, he simply looked up at her. His gaze was cold and detached. Wan Tang’s footsteps faltered. Brother?

Tuyen placed a tablet on the table. On the screen, security footage of the living room played. In the video, after receiving the urn, it was clear that Wan Tang’s fingers had a firm grip on it. She looked down at me once, then tilted her wrist slightly. The urn fell to the floor. It was not a tremble of the hand. It was a calculated release. The living room fell into a deathly silence. Mother Bui’s face turned deathly pale. Wan Tang...

Wan Tang panicked. She shook her head repeatedly. It wasn't like that. Brother, I was so scared in that moment, I truly didn't mean to do it.

Tuyen then opened a second video. It was surveillance from the hallway of the nursing home. On the day I had arrived at the facility, Wan Tang sat in her room saying, As long as Xing Dao is willing to provide her fingerprint, I can finally go home, right?

The lawyer replied, That is correct.

Wan Tang was silent for a moment before asking in a low voice, She is so foolish; what if she changes her mind after providing the print?

The lawyer said nothing. Father Bui added, She won't be able to stir up any trouble.

The video ended abruptly there. Tuyen lifted his eyes to look at her. You always knew she wasn't truly a seven-year-old child. You also knew that she simply couldn't remember everything, but that didn't mean she couldn't feel pain.

Wan Tang’s face turned as pale as a ghost. Finally, she could no longer keep up the pretense; tears began to stream down her cheeks. I just wanted to go home. I lived in that nursing home for seven years. Every single day, someone reminded me that I had caused a death. By what right did she get to occupy you for seven years? Why should you have had to marry a fool?

Tuyen looked as if he had been struck across the face. She occupied me? Wan Tang, you were the one who stabbed her mother to death. You were the one who reduced her to this state.

Wan Tang laughed through her tears. So what? Didn't you help me? Wasn't it you who signed the forgiveness agreement? Wasn't it you who transferred the money? Wasn't it you who built the fake prison? Tuyen, now that Xing Dao is dead, you come here pretending to be deeply devoted—don't you find that ridiculous?

Each word was like a blade. Tuyen stood frozen, his complexion ashen. Wan Tang was not wrong. He had no standing to place all the blame on her. But at the very least, there was one thing he could still do. He reached for his phone to call the police. Mother Bui screamed and lunged for the phone. Tuyen, you have lost your mind! Wan Tang is in this condition, and you still want to send her to prison?

Tuyen pulled away from her. His voice was steady and calm. Seven years ago, I did not send her to prison. Because of that, Xing Dao waited her entire life for justice. This time, I cannot continue to grant forgiveness on her behalf.

Wan Tang finally descended into true terror. She wept and knelt, clutching the hem of his trousers. Brother, you said you would protect me. You said that once Xing Dao’s emotions stabilized, you would bring me home.

Tuyen looked down at her. I caused Xing Dao’s death. I cannot continue to let her mother die with her eyes open.

The wail of police sirens approached from the distance. As she was being led away, Wan Tang kept turning her head to call out to him. Mother Bui wept until she fainted. Father Bui struck Tuyen hard across the face, but Tuyen only stood there, unmoving. He knew that the one who truly deserved this slap was never just Wan Tang. It was also himself.

My funeral was a lonely affair because I had no family left. Tuyen did not inform many people. He placed the remaining portion of my mother’s ashes alongside mine. The gravesite was chosen in a place that faced the sun. He said I feared the dark, and my mother feared the dark too. During the day, this place was filled with sunlight. On the day of the burial, the wind blew fiercely. Tuyen knelt before the headstone and burned every page of my sketchbook. When he reached the final page, he paused for a long time. In that drawing, I was holding my mother’s hand. My drawings were crude, but I looked so happy. Tuyen reached out and touched the small, sketched figures. He whispered, Xing Dao, have you found your mother?

No one answered him. The wind whipped up, carrying the ashes away into the distance. After the funeral ended, the police reopened the files on the car accident from seven years ago. Tuyen turned over every document he had.